I'll never tell
by Cyborgscouse
Summary: Revised. Claire can't believe that her father has wiped her mums memory and can't help but think he'll do the same to Zach again. Meanwhile Zach has his own secrets that could destroy his rebuilt friendship with Claire after only a few days,


It wasn't right. Both Claire and Zach knew that, they hadn't been out for long to see the tiny blonde's real mum which meant it hadn't been long before they gave their alibi for not being in school. And yet here the older woman was, waiting for an answer as to why the school had been on the phone wanting needing to know why they'd taken the day off.

"We went to the aquarium, for research on the manatees." Claire spoke, thoughts of why her mum didn't know what had happened were rapidly filling her head and all of them involved her dad and his friend. A quick look back at Zach, who hadn't moved from his spot at the stairs, his eyes flicking between mother and daughter; proving that he'd be no use in this conversation, she couldn't help but let out a worried low sigh. "We told you this morning that we'd be going," there was still a hint of disbelief in Sandra's eyes as she weighed up her daughter's words. Staring at the pair, she took in the teens as well as what she knew; Claire's vehement response that they'd been studying for a school project as well as Zach staying routinely quite even if he continued to look at her daughter, gave Sandra her own ideas of what they were really doing.

"I think I'd remember you telling me Claire," she replied now turning away from the two of them and walking back around the large kitchen counter carrying her dog as she did so. "Are you sure you didn't tell your dad?" she asked flashing another look at the blonde, more than sure that she'd remember telling her it was ok for them to skip school for the day. Having stayed quiet for the exchange, Zach couldn't stop the look of confusion that formed on his face; how could someone forget that they told their daughter they could take the day off school and then think it had been a different person that had said so a few hours later.

"Yeah, I must of." Came her soft response even if she knew that she hadn't told her dad, or foster dad in this case. Turning away from her mum, knowing full well just how and why she couldn't remember what had been said; Claire looked at Zach who was still very much confused. "Come on, we'll finish that project." She told him as she walked past. With an even more confused look on his face, he followed her but not before looking at Claire's mum one more time, a hint of a smile there as she watched the two teens walk away; not too sure why they needed to lie and say that they were going to finish the project, when they had just gone to her room before.

Unsure of what he was meant to say after that, Zach took his normal spot leaning against the wall next to her window, as Claire started to pace around the overly spacious room; decorated with cheerleading trophies. Turning to look out of the window and the nearly immaculate lawns of their neighbourhood, his eyes were drawn to the intricate wind chime that was hanging on the windowsill, swaying slightly in the breeze but nowhere near enough to make a sound, reaching out and giving it a slight push to have it move around more; Zach looked over his shoulder and wasn't surprised to see the raised eyebrow and hands on hips. Offering Claire what he hoped to be an innocent smile as he moved away from the window, wondering just how she always managed to make it seem that she was in charge around him.

"So, do you think she really can't remember; or your dad didn't like you taking the day off?" he asked dropping onto her bed playing with the edge of the pink quilt, absent mindly letting his smile grow as it all clicked; no matter what happened Claire was still the archetypical girl. Looking like she didn't fit in her own room and was out of place too much just standing there, Claire joined Zach on the bed; however she didn't see the need to start playing with anything. "I mean, why say you can take the day off if she's going to act like it never happened. Taking her dog out to get washed couldn't have been that exciting." The end comment earned him a slap to his shoulder, something that Claire seemed to be more than happy about doing; it was almost like she got off on hitting him.

"Zach," she laughed before her face fell and a faraway look formed. "I don't know, there used to be times years ago when she'd forget stuff. Picking food up from the shop that we asked for, appointment dates for the doctor's or dentist. Whole conversations." With that both of them fell silent which seemed to be strange for them, ever since they'd become friends again, both times, they'd always had something to say; even if it usually was about her healing and how they'd record it the next time. Watching Zach play with her quilt some more, Claire changed position on the bed laying across it looking even smaller then normal when the teen to her side copied the movement.

"Must be good sometimes," he spoke after a few minutes of awkward silence that had followed them when they had been at school during the first few days he tried to talk to her and was brushed to the side but knew that she'd be back later for him to record a new attempt of her trying to kill herself. "If she forgot something you did wrong, like you'd get away with it." having half turned to look at him when he spoke, it was obvious to Claire that Zach didn't really believe what he'd just said but had merely done so for them to try and talk about something. Anything. Again it was a reminder of how their friendship started before he forgot who she was, him trying to have her say anything to him only this time it wasn't in public and yet somehow seemed more important right now more than any other time.

"Before," she started now not looking at him, the ceiling seemed to be far more interesting to Claire. "You said that we wouldn't play well together, what changed your mind?" she asked thinking back to their conversation after Jackie had died, when he said she was Claire's best friend with the tiny blonde replying that someone else was; but she'd lost them as well. Having joined her in looking at the ceiling, Zach turned so he was laying on his side and looking at Claire as he thought about the question; it should have been easy for him to come up with an answer as to why he'd given her a chance to prove to him that they'd been friends like she said. But he couldn't think of one.

Perhaps luckily for him, the sound of a car pulling up outside the house and by extension behind his own car, Zach sat up on the bed before looking at his companion. They hadn't been doing anything, but he'd become more and more aware of Noah being around as well as the older man seemingly being aware of Zach was there more.

"Your dad's home." He muttered climbing off of the bed and walking towards the door. Rolling her eyes behind him, Claire stood up and followed him out of her room, the oddness around both her dad and Zach was becoming more and more annoying to her. She knew why though, he had climbed into her room with a ladder and snuck her out of the house to go to homecoming where Jackie was killed and she nearly lost her life. Of things that would ruin the silent understanding that Zach would usually be in the house and around Claire, unintentionally almost having her killed was right at the top of the list. "I should probably go, you know actually be in my house for once." He added as the pair started walking down the stairs.

"Seriously Zach, he's not going to kill you or anything." Claire said to the back of his head, she knew that she'd have to say something to her dad if he kept making her only friend like this every time he came home. There was no reply to her statement but she hadn't actually thought there would have been one either, after all it was hardly something that could have been followed up with a reply by him. Almost like it was timed, the front door opened up as Zach and Claire got to the bottom of the staircase, her dad's eyes narrowing in on the teenage male looking every much like he wanted to hang him.

"Zachary." Noah greeted to be polite more than anything, he hadn't minded him before homecoming and it had come as a shock when Claire had told both he and Sandra that Zach would be coming to the house. A cautious nod was all he got in reply, as he and Claire walked past Noah and towards the front door, the blonde giving her dad a slight glare as she walked past and out of the house. For some reason having expecting the tyres on his car to have been slashed for him parking in the driveway, Zach leant against the side of his black 4 x 4 knowing that there was a reason Claire had followed him out of the house and hardly thought it was so they could spend more time together.

"You don't have to leave when he turns up," she spoke after looking like she was taking in every detail of his face in case she wouldn't see him again. Her statement was met with a sheepish looking grin as Zach tried to look anywhere but at her house.

"I'm not leaving because..." stopping as he tried to think of something that would sound believable as well as trying to fight off the redness from the embarrassment of it being obvious why he had decided to leave her house. "Like I said, I can't just spend all my time at your house." Zach finally finished, his reason seemed to be good enough for Claire to not say anything about it right away even if neither of them were going to bring up the point that he was always at her house; and it had never been a problem with anyone before her dad's sudden change in attitude. "So I'll umm, see you later." He spoke again one hand now behind his back and resting on the door handle of his car, but even with his words making it seem he was ready to leave and one hand already on the car; Zach didn't make another move to get in and drive off.

"I know I don't have to tell you," Claire started staring intently at him, "and with everything that's already happened, but you can't tell anyone where we went today." Looking at her like she had just said she was really male and was in the middle of what would have been the most believable sex change operation Claire couldn't help the small laugh. "I know you've already kept my other secret and it's more important, it probably feels like I just keeping dragging you around with all this. But no one can know that you took me to see my real mum today." She finished now moving closer to Zach, staring at him in a way that said she could very well be part of the in-breed family from the Texas chainsaw massacre and make him the next victim if he didn't say ok.

"Claire, I think we're past the point where you have to tell me what to keep to myself." He replied with her statement with a slight roll of his eyes in annoyance but the smile on his face contradicted the way his words came out. "Anyway who's going to ask me what I did today?" he asked her seemingly not bothered by the fact that she was the only friend he had, sure there were people that talked to him at school but they were more like acquaintances then anything else.

"Zach," for the second time in less than ten minutes Claire had been forced to say his name like she was talking to a naughty child, but because of the obviousness of what he'd said was actually said she couldn't stop the smile that was forming. "Ok so maybe you don't need to be told not to tell anyone, be careful going home." She said looking very much like it had been him and not her who had almost been killed by someone in the past few days, before he could react Claire closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around Zach's waist. If anyone was watching the two of them, they might have laughed at the more then slightly shocked look on Zach's face, sensing that there was more than a good chance she wouldn't let go; he slowly hugged her back not entirely sure why she felt the need to hug him at all. The only contact between the two was usually her pushing or kicking him.

"I'll be fine Claire, you need to make sure you're safe, not me." He replied catching the curtains of the living room of her house shift like someone was looking out of the window. Letting go and half turning towards his car, this time knowing that he'd have to leave if he wanted to go home, his tiny friend would probably drag him back to her house if he stayed any longer. "And I really need to go," he added feeling that she wasn't going to remove her hands any time soon, leaning up Claire tried to place a innocent kiss on the side of Zach's cheek, but with him having turned his head to speak again she ended up kissing half of his mouth. Eyes widening to an almost comical amount, Claire quickly backed up, her face taking on a shade of red that was fit for something being in a fruit salad.

"So I'l.. I'll see you later." She stuttered before turning around and walking back to her house, hands covering her face almost burning at the heat that was coming through from her slip. Having been frozen after Claire nearly ran back to her house, a bemused Zach coughed into his hand like he was trying to get someone's attention before turning and opening the car door; trying to ignore the sharp electric shock that struck his hand when he touched the handle. With one last fleeting look at the house, be pulled out of the driveway, careful to make sure that he didn't cause damage to the Bennet's car he started his drive home.

Trying to close the door behind her quietly and failing, Claire wanted nothing more than to run to her room and stay there for the rest of the day. A small part of her brain was telling her to relax and calm down, it was a simple accident after all; a innocent kiss to the side of his cheek that was a goodbye just happened to catch half of his mouth., which when she thought about it was really Zach's fault anyway; turning to talk to her honestly.

"Claire can you come here?" Noah's voice rang out through the hallway, cursing her inability to be able to get to her room when she wanted to; she slowly started walking towards the living room with an annoyed look replacing the embarrassment that had been there seconds before. Seeing both her mum and dad sitting there staring at her, it looked like she was about to face a death march and was quickly trying to find excuses for anything they said to her. "Your mum has just brought up the point that Zachary's been here a lot lately, and we don't mind that." Frowning at both of them, she couldn't understand why this conversation which she had originally been about something she'd done turn into about Zach being around. "But if you decided to start dating him, I think that you should respect us enough to tell us." You would have been able to hear a pin drop in the house after that statement. Claire stood there staring at her parents like they'd just told her they were both aliens and the rest of their race was coming to destroy the Earth. Stopping her inner rambling that made her sound like the male the conversation was oddly enough about she blinked, any excuses that she could have thought up were thrown out the window by what was said.

"What? I am _not_ dating Zach." She shot out after the three of them continued to stare at each other, "I'm mean he's my best friend, why would I date him." she added realising that her first denial sounded like she thought there was something wrong with him, only for her attempt at an explanation came out like something a child out have said about not liking the other sex.

"So do you go around clinging to all your friends like that?" her mum asked having watched the pair at the window when it seemed to be taking Claire too long to come back in the house, "And kiss them?" the first question had been simple for her to come up with an answer as well as being annoyed with the obvious breach of privacy, yes she did hug her friends; and she wasn't clinging to him. However she didn't get the chance to voice her answer, her face going bright red once again hearing her mum voice the fact she saw what was quickly becoming the most embarrassing thing she'd done. Not only would she have to face Zach and pray he wouldn't act odd around her after she missed his cheek, but now she had her mum smiling smugly which would no doubt continue whenever he came back.

"I di... I not dati...I can't believe you watched me." She finally got out before turning and storming to her room, happy that her display should be enough for both of them to avoid her.

- - -

Having been in a daze during his drive home, Zach finally pulled up outside his house unable to make the instant comparisons between his and Claire's homes. He wasn't poor no matter what the students at school thought because of his dress sense or fact that he didn't drive to school and took his bike instead, it was just the fact that the tiny blonde's dad had an incredibly high paying job for something that was just boring. Immaculate large lawns were replaced by much smaller ones with more flower beds, as well as the houses didn't look like they belonged to some type of royalty.

Picking his bike up that had been left outside when they decided to take Claire to see her real mum, Zach pushed it inside his house before leaving it in the hallway leaning against the wall as he started his slow walk to his room; his outcast status and social avoidance didn't stay at school, as he very rarely spent a lot of time on the lower floor of his home unless he had to. Closing his door over enough so if anyone wanted him they'd knock first, he picked up the hook that had been left on the computer desk as well as the plain box; pushing his window open and started to turn the tiny piece of metal into the outside wooden frame before opening the box.

Waiting for a few minutes as he stared out of the window not too sure of this was meant to work, as he drummed his fingers on the windowsill before turning around walking out of his room, a quick look back told him that the smallish wind chime he'd been told to buy days earlier was letting out a soft almost calming sound.


End file.
